The International Competition program for the 2019 Encounters Film Festival (Sept. 24-29 in Bristol, U.K.) has been revealed, with titles from 94 different countries making the selection list. As ever, the festival strives to deliver extraordinary, original storytelling across a multitude of genres.
With over 100 films competing for the coveted Grand Prix, titles in 18 eclectic programs explore topics from Fake News! to Desire, Rebellion to Resolution, Intimacy to Isolation. Encounters Film Festival is an Oscars, BAFTA and European Film Award qualifying festival, with previous alumni going on to with these renowned awards.
This year’s program covers an array of themes cultivated to ensure there’s something for everyone: Rebellious females, deceiving technology, laugh out loud comedy and global challenges are just a few themes on offer, with tastes of the sinister supernatural, uncanny animation, family matters and more waiting to be discovered in the coming days.
Categories include animation, live action, immersive, VR, U.K. student films, children’s films and more both in and out of competition.
View the program online here.
International Competition (Animation):
#21xoxo | Sine Ozbilge & Imge Ozbilge | Belgium | 2019
32-Rbit | Victor Orozco Ramirez | Germany/Mexico | 2018
4:3 | Ross Hogg | Scotland, UK | 2019
Ablaze | Jan Koster, Alexander Lahl | Germany | 2019
The Backward Astronomer | Jake Nelson | North America, England | 2018
Bavure | Donatos Sansone | France | 2018
Best Friend | Nicholas Olivieri, Yi Shen, Juliana De Lucca, Varun Nair, David Feliu | France | 2018
Black Earth Rising | Steve Small | UK | 2018
Bloomers | Samantha Moore | UK, Austria | 2019
Chin Up | JoAnne Salmon | UK | 2018
Coming Up for Air | Jeroen Hoogaars, Anouk van Kalmthout, Willem Stapel | Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Finland, Morocco, Nepal, Sri Lanka | 2019
Creepy Pasta Salad | Lauren Orme | UK | 2019
Dad | Atle S. Blakseth, Einer Dunsæd | Norway | 2019
Daughter | Daria Kashcheeva | Czech Republic | 2019
The Dawn of Ape | Mirai Mizue | Japan | 2019
Don’t Know What | Thomas Renoldner | Austria | 2019
Embraces & the Touch of Skin | Sara Koppel | Denmark | 2019
The Fear of Drawing | Hugo Morel | France | 2019
Featherweight | Kayleigh Gibbons | UK | 2019
Five Minutes to Sea | Natalia Mirzoyan | Russia | 2018
Flow | Adriaan Lokman | Netherlands, France | 2019
Flowing through Wonder | Joanna Lurie | France | 2018
Getting Started | William Crook | Switzerland | 2019
Good Intentions | Anna Mantzaris | UK | 2018
Half and Half | Baptiste Drapeau | France | 2018
Half Asleep | Caibei Cai | UK, China | 2018
Happy Ending | EunJu Ara Choi | UK | 2018
Hold Tight | Jessica Ashman | UK | 2018
I Want (Ich Will) | Anne Isensee | Germany | 2019
I’m Not a Robot | Sean Buckelew | USA | 2019
Inside Me | Maria Telxeira | Germany | 2019
It Starts With | Laura Nasir-Tamara | UK | 2018
Kids | Michael Frei | Switzerland | 2019
Laugh Lines | Patricia Wenger | Switzerland | 2018
Les Lèvres Gercées | Fabien Corre & Kelsi Phung | France | 2018
Lickalike | Rebecca Blocher | Germany | 2019
The Lonely Orbit | Frederic Siegel, Benjamin Morard | Switzerland | 2019
The Magic Boat | Naaman Azhari | Lebanon, UK | 2019
Mercurio | Michele Bernardi | Italy | 2018
Mind My Mind | Floor Adams | Netherlands, Belgium | 2019
A Minor Achievement | Kolin Pope | USA | 2018
Modern Babel | Zhao Lin | China | 2019
Music & Clowns | Alex Widdowson | UK | 2018
My Generation | Ludovic Houplain | France | 2018
My Moon | Eusong Lee | United States | 2018
My Troubled Mind: Ryan’s Story | Andy Glynne, Salvador Maldonado | UK | 2019
O Hunter Heart | Carla MacKinnon | UK | 2019
One Day | Moe Koyano | Japan, Denmark | 2018
The Opposites Game | Anna Samo and Lisa LaBracio | USA | 2019
The Origin of Man | Pjotr Sapegin | Norway, Sweden | 2019
The Other | Marta Magnuska | Poland | 2018
R.I.S.E Pathfinder | Chloe Dumoulin | France | 2018
Relation • Ship | Zoey Lin; VR creative director Kun Xia | USA | 2018
Ripple Home | Laura Reedy | USA | 2019
Roughhouse | Jonathan Hodgson | UK, France | 2018
Secret | Congying (Ysabel) Li | USA | 2018
Segregated by Design | Mark Lopez | USA | 2019
Serial Parallels | Max Hattler | Hong Kong, Germany | 2019
Sphere of Existence | Ugo Bienvenu | France | 2018
Squaring the Circle | Karolina Specht | Poland | 2018
Story | Jola Bankowska | Poland | 2019
Strong Independent Space | Damian Krakowiak | Poland | 2018
Swatted | Ismael Joffroy Chandoutis | France | 2018
Tango of Longing | Marta Szymasnka | Poland | 2018
There Were Four of Us | Cassie Shao | US, China | 2019
Thermostat 6 | Maya Av-Ron, Mylene Cominotti, Marion Coudert, Sixtine Dano | France | 2018
Uncle Thomas, Accounting for the Days | Regina Pessoa | Portugal, Canada, France | 2019
Where Do We Go from Here? | Stephen McNally | UK | 2018
